Since last October, I have been attending and thoroughly enjoying Spanish classes organised by CEPA (Centro de Educación de Personas Adultas) Fuerteventura Norte. But every good thing comes to an end: we had our last class today. Unfortunately, it is not clear if the classes will even continue next academic year, what with all the disgraceful budget cuts.

One evening I walked in the classroom and found these on the blackboard. Before the class started, I took care to copy them in my book — to share these colourful expressions with the world!

“Claudia Ivanovna’s dead,” his client informed him.
“Well, God rest her soul,” said Bezenchuk. “So the old lady’s passed away. Old ladies pass away… or they depart this life. It depends who she is. Yours, for instance, was small and plump, so she passed away. But if it’s one who’s a bit bigger and thinner, then they say she has departed this life…”
“What do you mean ‘they say’? Who says?”
“We say. The undertakers. Now you, for instance. You’re distinguished-lookin’ and tall, though a bit on the thin side. If you should die, God forbid, they’ll say you popped off. But a tradesman, who belonged to the former merchants’ guild, would breathe his last. And if it’s someone of lower status, say a caretaker, or a peasant, we say he has croaked or gone west. But when the high-ups die, say a railway conductor or someone in administration, they say he has kicked the bucket. They say: ‘You know our boss has kicked the bucket, don’t you?’”
Shocked by this curious classification of human mortality, Ippolit Matveyevich asked:
“And what will the undertakers say about you when you die?”
“I’m small fry. They’ll say, ‘Bezenchuk’s gone’, and nothin’ more.”
And then he added grimly:
“It’s not possible for me to pop off or kick the bucket; I’m too small…”